In this video, Exhibition Senior Project Manager and artist Stephen C. Quinn explains the multi-step process by which Museum artists—including Carl Akeley, for whom the Akeley Hall of African Mammals is named, and Robert Rockwell, who worked on the Hall of North American Mammals—created hyper-realistic specimens, and posed them in the dioramas in "arrested motion," to provide visitors with a view into wild animals' lives they might otherwise never see.

For more images of the hall’s celebrated dioramas, behind-the-scenes videos, archival photos, and more, download the official Hall of North American Mammals app, for iOS or Android.